Chapter 6

Opening my bleary eyes, I noticed Daniel and I were no longer alone in his office. He stood near his desk, looking towards the screen with his arms folded. Beside him was another courtesan, looking significantly more dishevelled than the last time I’d seen her. Earlier she’d informed Daniel of Yaru’s presence before hurrying away.

“He’s just lowering your average,” Daniel said, evidently talking to her. He reached out towards the screen, swiping the images, moving through what looked like a calendar, each day broken down by the hour. “Drop him.”

“He’s one of my best clients. He—”

“Don’t. I have warned you and everyone else. You cannot become emotionally attached to any client. You can’t afford to love or let your heart be softened. If they don’t pay well enough, you let them go.”

“But—”

“Not another word. Drop him or I’ll block his access and do it for you.”

The courtesan let out an angry sigh and stormed from the room. Daniel shook his head and dismissed the calendar with a flick of his hand.

Alone with him once more, I moved, letting the blanket slide off my shoulders as I sat up. I didn’t remember it being placed over me.

Daniel hadn’t noticed me, giving me time to stretch out. My thighs and breasts were sticky where he’d orgasmed more than once and my stomach gurgled, complaining at being given so little to eat in the last twenty-four hours.

I’d lost track of time as Daniel had used me to please him again and again in more ways than I could care to count. He’d evidently bedded women being kept as virgins many times.

A yawn broke out of me before I could stop it, making just enough noise to draw Daniel’s attention.

“You’re awake. Good. The other women are coming back slowly,” he said, his eyes only briefly leaving the screen to glance at me. “You can go join them and get some proper rest now.”

I frowned, no sure I wanted to go and find a bunch of women I’d never met and give them an opportunity to show any kind of jealousy or take issue with anything about me.

Nonetheless, I stood, lifting the blanket to try and keep myself covered. Daniel looked my way again.

“Leave the blanket. You need to become comfortable in your own skin.”

I sighed, but did as he asked. Now I definitely didn’t want to leave and seek out anyone else. I was covered in his dried and drying sperm and achy in unexpected places as well as completely naked.

Trying not to shiver in the sudden cold air, I slowly stepped closer to Daniel.

This time his eyes remained fixed on the screen ahead of him. It showed a list of different names in boxes, each with a set of numbers around them. Some of the boxes were green, some yellow and some red. There had to be more than twenty names in total.

While he watched, several of the numbers and colours updated, the numbers on some getting larger as two red boxes became yellow and a yellow became a green.

I stopped near him, wondering what it all meant.

Before I could ask, or he could reiterate his suggestion for me to leave, another courtesan walked in. She wore a tight leather bodice, shorts and thigh-high black boots. A whip was strapped to a small bag on her back.

“You’ve not made back enough tonight to pay off your interest,” Daniel said, not looking at her for more than second.

“I’m aware. It was a rough night. And one of my regulars cancelled. His wife came home early. My tips can make up the difference though,” she replied, pulling what looked like a small, deep-blue circle from inside the top of her boot.

She placed it on the desk, tapped a button on the side of a panel built in, and almost immediately, she relaxed.

One of the yellow boxes on the screen flicked to green.

“Better,” he said, taking the poker-chip style disc and putting it in the top drawer of the desk. “But try not to make a habit of it.”

“I won’t. If he keeps being difficult I’ll drop him. I had a wonderful chat to a new potential client today. Hoping to secure him tomorrow. Anastasia used to court him, but he found her too catty.”

With a grin and a swish of her hips, she sauntered off. Daniel rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“If he found her too catty you’re not necessarily going to be able to keep him,” he muttered only just loudly enough I could hear. I made a mental note to keep out of her way. I wasn’t interested in any catty behaviour. Or any politics between two courtesans.

“Do all the courtesans come here when they get back?” I asked, coming to stand beside him, looking at the screen more closely. It updated again, another couple of numbers going up.

“Yes. I insist on it. I need to know they’re all back safely, and I like to see what state they're in, how things went and if any clients are going to be a potential problem.

I nodded, watching the screen too. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Daniel’s attention switch to me, his eyes wandering slowly across my body. I tried to ignore it. As he’d said, I needed to get used to it, especially if I planned to wear little more than paint when I went out each day.

Despite being aware of his attentions, I still visibly jumped when he touched me, his fingers brushing my side, and down over my behind.

“You’re definitely one of my more beautiful courtesans. It’s going to be a long month of training before your unveiling.”

“Apparently I’m going to need every advantage I can get,” I said, noticing one of the courtesans only gaining seventy credits in a single update. None of them had totals as high as Yaru had mentioned my daily interest would be. Several of them barely even had a tenth.

Daniel let out a low chuckle. “Yes, you’re going to have to learn to be one of the best courtesans out there. You’re going to have to make men queue up, desperate to screw you.” His fingers stroked over one butt-cheek until he cupped it.

As suddenly as he’d started, he stopped and walked away.

“Go. I have work to do.” Daniel’s tone was suddenly firm, almost aggressive. It was clear I wasn’t wanted in the room anymore.

Trying to hide my surprise at the sudden icy attitude, I walked towards the door.

Feeling my thighs stick slightly as they rubbed past each other and my skin stretch under the drying sperm in various places only served to remind me that I was vulnerable and wearing the evidence of my activities with Daniel clearly.

I wanted to hide and clean myself off as swiftly as possible, but I had no idea where the nearest bathroom was. Warily, I padded barefoot down the corridor, listening for others while making as little noise as possible.

The few doors I tried along the way revealed storage rooms or empty bedrooms, but no bathroom and no way of washing.

Before long I was right back where I started, the door to the courtesan sitting room still wide open. Despite staying out of sight of any occupants, I was still spotted.

Another woman came striding in from the double doors near the entrance, a long coat billowing out behind her. Her eyes took in my appearance with a swift up and down.

“Daniel’s given you the usual introduction then,” she said, loud enough for anyone else nearby to hear. In response I heard the sound of rustling fabric and clattering plates, cups and shoes as women inside the room got to their feet.

I stopped, not sure how to respond or what to do next. No part of me wanted to be the centre of attention so soon, especially not while naked, sticky and feeling about as vulnerable as I’d ever done.

“So you’re the woman all the fuss has been about,” another voice said, a woman appearing in the doorway. Our eyes met as all the other women gathered around her. If this had been a pack of wolves she’d have been the alpha male.

I nodded, not looking away. If she wanted a reaction out of me, she wasn’t going to get it. Silence followed the statement as she smiled at me. Combined with the look in her eyes, I found myself imagining a cat that had a mouse trapped and was watching it scurry back and forth. The lack of conversation soon grew awkward, but I resolved to continue waiting.

“I hope you don’t expect the rest of us to pander to your every need,” she said a moment later, the smile disappearing. “We don’t appreciate it when people encourage Daniel to spend money he doesn’t have. If you screw up, we’ll be pushed to earn it back.”

“Come on, Bernice,” the other newcomer said, her coat now hanging straight. “You know what the first day is like. Give her a break.”

Bernice folded her arms across two reasonably large breasts, still standing in everyone’s way.

“Come on, ladies,” a deep male voice called from off to my left. “You know Daniel doesn’t like any tension in his court. It’s late. Most of you need to get some rest while you can.”

With a flick of her head, Bernice backed off, almost bouncing as she sighed and walked back into the room. I looked in the direction of my rescuer to see another man dressed as Jake and Edward had been. With him were two more courtesans. Both looked at me briefly as they hurried down the corridor towards Daniel’s office.

The bodyguard came up beside me as the others dispersed and left me out in the corridor alone.

“Auralia, right?”

I nodded, still just as wary, but his eyes stayed fixed on my face despite my vulnerable appearance.

“There are bedrooms for each courtesan off the main room here. The third one from the far end is vacant. You can sleep there, store your personal items going forward, and most importantly, clean yourself up.”

“Thank you,” I replied, surprised to find someone so helpful after so many more antagonistic or catty people. He merely nodded and wandered off, not even glancing back at me.

For a moment I didn’t move, still stunned that he’d treated me with respect.

“I wondered when you’d come down,” a female voice said over my shoulder. I whipped around to see a thin woman wearing a light organza-like material cut to make her look almost fairy like. It was elegant and suggestive, but equally far more covering of her body than any of the other women so far. A tumble of curly golden hair sat around her shoulders and the top of her back, several hair clips in her hand, even more still holding loose wisps in place.

“I’m Mhairi,” she said, giving me a small smile.

“Auralia.” I returned the gesture.

“Come on, I’ll show you to the spare room. You must be exhausted.”

“You could say that.”

She turned and hurried back into the room, a slight limp to her walk. I raised my eyebrows briefly. If people were being woken and healed from conditions like motor neurone disease, how did this woman have any kind of injury?

Before I could think any more about it, I was inside the large sitting room, walking past several woman lounging together, each of them clutching drinks and nibbling on dishes of food.

Every head followed me, and a hush settled on the conversation.

I tried not to react to the attention, keeping my eyes focused on Mhairi and her lopsided gait. It was strangely mesmerizing.

Just as the guard had suggested, Mhairi led me to the third door from the end in a long row down one side of the room. Most of the doors had been shut along the way, but this was wide open. Inside was a comfortable-looking four-poster bed, complete with orange net-like drapes. The combination of oriental fabric and medieval bed frame somehow worked.

“Here. This can be your room. I’m just next door if you need anything,” Mhairi said, carrying on with little more than a glance at me. I hurried inside, tired of being stared at.

As soon as the door was shut behind me I exhaled, my muscles relaxing. A moment later tears started to flow, the emotions of the day finally getting to me.

My world had come to life only to fall apart again. I felt so mixed. Sullied yet grateful I could feel. Disgusted at what I’d had to do yet hungry to explore my desires again.

For now the mix of emotions was just too much.